Orange blossoms in Windhoek, Namibia

Greetings from Windhoek! I'm sitting out on the deck of the B&B enjoying a cup of coffee and a rusk (it's been 10 months since I've had a rusk!). The weather here is gorgeous with clear blue skies, a light breeze, and the smell of orange blossoms in the air. I flew out of Addis Ababa yesterday morning via Johannesburg to Windhoek. It was very odd flying back into South Africa 10 months to the day after I left. Lots of mixed feelings. I guess I haven't quite dealt with everything that happened during the time I was in this neck of the woods. Part of me was so happy to be back and the other part of me was filled with a sense of dread (which was assuaged when I didn't get on the flight to Maseru!). Well, after clearing customs and speaking some uber rusty Sesotho to a porter (from Bloemfontein...argh...cannot escape die Vrystaat!!) who helped me lug my bags to the Air Namibia counter, I was on my way to Windhoek. The Air Namibia flight was a bit of a contrast to the Ethiopian Airways flight. The Ethiopian Airways flight was packed in like sardines, at least 6 languages that I could identify were being jabbered (Amharic, Arabic, English, Hindi, Mandarin, and Afrikaans) , it was a wee bit on the "I need to be scrubbed down with Clorox bleach" side, and had wonderful coffee. The Air Namibian flight was spacious, 4 languages (Afrikaans, English, Oshiwambo, and German) were being jabbered, ultra neat and tidy, and had crap coffee! Can't win 'em all!

The Windhoek airport was a 2 goats affair (the Maseru airport would be 1/2 a goat!). From the brief amount of daylight left all I can say is that I was blown away by the images of Namibia. It reminds me a lot of my beloved Southwest but in a much more untamed fashion. It was so nice to see lots of blue sky, open space, and craggy mountains again. Windhoek is a lovely wee city (approx. 500,000) people and reminded me a lot of Tucson back when I first visited it 12 years ago. I'm looking forward to working and vacationing here! I just wish I had more time to rent a vehicle and drive down to the coast and check out the world famous dunes (Walvis Bay, Swakopmund etc.). That's for next month when I trek back here!